Elena Grice, the 15-year-old schoolgirl excluded from classes for a month after organising a peaceful demonstration against the war in Iraq, is taking her case to the High Court.

After the Board of Governors at the Helena Romanes School in Braintree, Essex decided on Monday to uphold the head teacher's decision to exclude her, Elena (with her father) has asked Liberty to take her case to the courts.

Liberty today issued papers against the school's Board of Governors. We are seeking a judicial review at the High Court, and an injunction to get Elena reinstated at school for classes up to her GCSE exams.

We argue that the decision of the Governors not to reinstate her was unreasonable, and the length of the exclusion is disproportionate.

Joanne Sawyer, the Liberty lawyer for the Grice family, said today: "The underlying cause of all this was the protest. Elena was standing up for pupils who were being stopped by the school from joining it. Free speech and peaceful protest are essential rights for everyone - and young people have no other democratic means of expressing their views".

Given the imminence of Elena's GCSE exams, time is obviously of the essence. We will be seeking a hearing in the next few working days.

BACKGROUND
Elena Grice was the main organiser of a demonstration against the war in Iraq outside her school on 20th March 2003. Around 500 people, including parents and teachers, joined the demonstration on a grass area outside the school gates. But some pupils were prevented from leaving the school grounds to join the protest. Elena became involved in a verbal confrontation with the head teacher, who decided to exclude her the following day. The 30 days run from 24th March to 20th May inclusive - a week into the examination period. She is banned from most classes, with obvious dramatic effects on her studies.

The case relies on the Education Act 2002 and Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention on Human Rights (freedom of expression and freedom of assembly).